Flash flooding set off by heavy rains has killed at least 22 people and left more than 40 people missing across the central Maidan Wardak province.
Taliban’s governor’s office in the province has said that the flooding occurred on Saturday night, hitting hard the districts of Jalrez, Chak, Sayed Abad, Nerkh, and Jaghatu.
The disaster swept away hundreds of homes and damaged thousands of acres of agricultural land, leaving families vulnerable and homeless.
The Kabul-Bamyan highway and major transit roads were also closed therefore, the Office added.
The Office did not detail the situation of emergency aid assistance to the flood-affected families and if search and rescue operations were carried out to save lives.
Last night, the Arghandi district also saw heavy rains, resulting in fatalities and damage to assets. However, the exact number of casualties from flash flooding is not clear for the time being.
Afghanistan has recently been hit by a series of natural disasters and extreme weather events at a time when the country is reeling from an economic and humanitarian crisis exacerbated by a lack of international funding.
According to the Taliban’s State Ministry for Disaster Management, between April and earlier this month alone, a series of natural disasters affected over 78,000 vulnerable families. Nearly 300 people died or sustained injuries, over 2,000 residential homes were destroyed or damaged, 3,279 livestock were injured, and more than 3,000 hectares of land and farmland were ravaged.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has recently warned that Afghanistan is grappling with temperatures rising faster than the global average.
